Senior UX Designer

Roles and responsibilities

A Senior UX Designer is responsible for leading the design and development of user-centered digital experiences. This role involves working across the entire design process—from understanding user needs and business goals to creating wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs, and conducting usability testing. Senior UX Designers also mentor junior designers and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and researchers, to ensure that the end product is intuitive, efficient, and aligned with both user needs and business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

1. User Research and Analysis

• User Interviews and Surveys: Conduct user research to gather insights on user needs, behaviors, pain points, and goals through methods such as user interviews, surveys, and observations.
• Usability Testing: Design and conduct usability tests to evaluate design concepts, prototypes, and finished products to ensure they meet user expectations.
• Competitive Analysis: Perform competitive audits and analyze industry trends to inform design decisions and ensure the product is positioned effectively in the market.
• Persona Development: Create and update user personas to represent key segments of the target audience, ensuring that designs address their needs.

2. Design Strategy and Planning

• Design Vision: Contribute to the overall UX vision and strategy of the product, collaborating with product managers and stakeholders to align on goals, features, and design principles.
• Information Architecture: Design and organize the structure of information within the product to create clear, user-friendly navigation and intuitive flow.
• Journey Mapping: Map out user journeys and user flows to visualize the entire user experience and identify pain points or opportunities for improvement.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, developers, and other stakeholders to ensure that design solutions align with business objectives, technical constraints, and user needs.

3. Interaction and Visual Design

• Wireframes and Prototypes: Create wireframes, interactive prototypes, and low-fidelity mockups to visualize design concepts and iterate quickly based on user feedback.
• High-Fidelity Design: Develop polished, high-fidelity designs that are ready for handoff to development, ensuring that they meet accessibility, usability, and aesthetic standards.
• Design Systems: Contribute to or manage the creation and maintenance of design systems, ensuring consistency across products and platforms.
• UI/UX Consistency: Ensure that user interfaces are consistent, visually appealing, and align with the overall brand and design guidelines.

4. Usability and Accessibility

• User-Centered Design: Advocate for the needs of users in all design decisions, ensuring that the final product is easy to use, accessible, and addresses real user problems.
• Accessibility Standards: Ensure that designs comply with accessibility standards and guidelines (e.g., WCAG), ensuring that products are usable by people with disabilities.

5. Mentorship and Leadership

• Mentoring Junior Designers: Provide guidance, feedback, and mentorship to junior or mid-level UX designers, helping them grow in their careers and refine their design skills.
• Stakeholder Communication: Lead design discussions with stakeholders and present design concepts effectively, clearly articulating the rationale behind design decisions.
• Project Leadership: Take ownership of the design process on key projects, from ideation to final implementation, ensuring that the user experience is prioritized.

6. Collaboration with Development

• Handoff to Development: Work closely with developers to ensure that design concepts are translated effectively into working products, providing assets, specifications, and guidance as needed.
• Design Iteration: Collaborate with developers during the build phase to make adjustments to designs based on technical constraints and feedback.

Desired candidate profile

• 1. User Experience Design

• Human-Centered Design: Deep understanding of human-centered design principles and the ability to apply them throughout the design process.
• User Research: Expertise in conducting qualitative and quantitative user research and turning insights into actionable design solutions.
• Usability Testing: Strong experience in usability testing, including planning, conducting, and analyzing results to inform design decisions.

• 2. Interaction and Visual Design

• Wireframing and Prototyping: Proficient in creating wireframes, low and high-fidelity prototypes, and interaction designs using tools such as Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, or Axure.
• Visual Design: Strong visual design skills, with experience in creating aesthetically pleasing and functional user interfaces.
• Design Systems: Experience in creating or maintaining design systems, ensuring consistency across various products and platforms.

• 3. Tools and Software

• Design Tools: Expertise in design tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, and prototyping tools like InVision or Marvel.
• Collaboration Tools: Proficiency with collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, or Jira for team communication and project management.
• User Research Tools: Familiarity with tools for user testing and research such as UserTesting, Lookback, or Optimal Workshop.

• 4. Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking

• Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze user feedback, behavior, and data to identify design problems and develop effective solutions.
• Design Thinking: Proficiency in using design thinking methodologies to approach complex design challenges and ideate solutions that align with user needs.

• 5. Leadership and Mentorship

• Mentoring Skills: Ability to mentor and guide junior or mid-level designers, helping them grow and refine their skills.
• Stakeholder Management: Excellent communication and presentation skills for collaborating with cross-functional teams and presenting designs to stakeholders.

• 6. Attention to Detail

• Precision in Design: High attention to detail in designing user interfaces and ensuring that they are consistent, functional, and aligned with user needs.
• Quality Assurance: Conduct thorough reviews of designs to ensure that all user experience elements meet high standards before being passed on to development.
• Excellent academic results at school and university
• Bachelor’s or equivalent in User Experience, Design, or STEM
• Knowledge and passion for user experience, technology and design
• Commitment to continuous learning and improvement - curious, flexible, scientific
• Drive to finish work and celebrate success
• Confidence in user research practices
• Engagement with the latest design research and innovation
  

What we offer

• An opportunity to shape a company and products
• Influence in the open source community
• An inclusive work environment
• Learning and development
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual leave
• Priority Pass for travel